Qualcomm shares fall 5.2% after hours following fourth-quarter earnings

Qualcomm (QCOM) said on Nov. 4 that its non-GAAP revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter was $10.44 billion, and its non-GAAP earnings were $2.17 per share, below the $2.20 consensus estimate. Shares fell 5.2% in after-hours trading as of 5:05 p.m. ET, from a regular-session close of $173.35.

Here's how the company did:

• Revenue: $10.44 billion vs. $11.27 billion a year earlier
• Non-GAAP EPS: $2.17 vs. $3.00 a year earlier, $2.20 expected
• GAAP EPS: $1.17 per share vs. a loss of $2.89 per share a year earlier

The company said its GAAP revenue for the quarter was $10.32 billion, down 8% from a year earlier. Revenue on a non-GAAP basis was at the high end of the company's forecast range of $9.7 billion to $10.5 billion, which it gave on July 29.

President and CEO Cristiano Amon said, "We are pleased to deliver fourth quarter non-GAAP revenues at the high end of our guidance, along with 36% year-over-year growth in combined QCT Automotive and IoT revenues."

Segment results

QCT, the company's chip business, had revenue of $9.02 billion in the quarter, down 8% from a year earlier. Its handset revenue fell 26% to $5.14 billion.

Automotive revenue rose 89% to $1.99 billion, and IoT revenue rose 4% to $1.89 billion.

QTL, the licensing business, had revenue of $1.30 billion, down 7%.

Guidance

For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, the company expects revenue of $10.4 billion to $11.2 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $2.15 to $2.35 per share, and GAAP diluted EPS of $1.03 to $1.23 per share.

The company said the semiconductor industry is seeing broad increases in input costs, and that it is raising product prices to reflect them. It expects the full benefit to appear in QCT gross margins in the second half of fiscal 2027.

The company also reiterated its fiscal 2027 Data Center revenue target of $5 billion.

Charges and capital returns

The company booked $235 million of restructuring and restructuring-related charges in the quarter, and $141 million of acquisition-related charges, which it excludes from non-GAAP results.

In the quarter it repurchased $1.01 billion of stock and paid $987 million in dividends, or 92 cents per share, for a total of $2.00 billion returned to stockholders. For fiscal 2026, total returns were $11.67 billion.

According to its SEC filings, net income swung from a loss of $3.12 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 to a profit of $3.00 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2026.

The company said its fiscal 2026 GAAP results included a $5.7 billion income tax benefit, or $5.32 per share, from releasing a valuation allowance.